Four Truths We Frequently Forget

Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome all of our brave campuses today? So good to be with all of you. Let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord, getting ready to hear his living and his active word among us. Will you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we do give you glory, honor, and praise. What a privilege it is to gather with your saints in your house to give you worship. Lord, to honor you and to let you know that you are worthy of all of our glory, honor, and praise. Lord, we give it all to you today. Lord, we celebrate this year, the very last week in our calendar year of services for 2025, that you would be high and exalted and lifted up. And Lord, we're very encouraged this morning because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you, Lord, that are speaking. So our prayer collectively this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you, and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you,

will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen. Amen. I don't think that Christians often forget the gospel, but I do think Christians frequently forget how powerful the gospel is, how radical the gospel is, how life-changing the gospel is, that God the Father sent his son to be the savior of the world, that the one in the manger was the promised Christ child, that that one came to save his people from their sins, that it's that one and that one only that can deliver you from this life into the next to spend eternity with God. It's that one that came for you, who fulfilled the law and did for you what you couldn't do, who died on the cross in your place, taking the full measure of the wrath of God for all sin, who was buried, who rose from the dead, validating he was indeed God's one and only son, who ascended into heaven and is coming back. I mean, Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And if you believe that, you're indwelled by his Holy Spirit, who's with you forever. It means everywhere you go, God goes with you to be with you and encourage you and lead you and admonish you

and help you in every dealing in life. So when you say, well, where's God? You can say, he's right here with me. I'm never alone. Never will he leave me. Never will he forsake me. He'll be with me always to the very end of the age. Whatever we think the gospel is, it's more powerful than what we believe. And we frequently forget. What happens with the gospel is many times people become Christians and all of a sudden it turns into traditions or what you should or shouldn't do. So you get saved, all your sins forgiven, and now you get in a group and like, well, don't do this and don't hang out with people like that. And here's how you need to behave and here's what you do. Oh, by the way, these are our traditions. This is how you dress. This is the way we sing. This is the way we do groups. This is the way we do this. These are our traditions. And all of a sudden, what seems so life-giving at the beginning is messed up by all of these seemingly good things of rules and traditions and family expectations and all these other things,

which may be good in practice, but has nothing to do with the word of God. Like what we have to realize is that the gospel is the gospel. The gospel is what's powerful, that Christ died for sinners, that he rose from the dead, that he is the judge and ruler of all. And we can have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It's that and that alone that matters. And it's so easy to forget. It's not how good you are. It's not what you look like. It is not how you behave. It is what you do with Jesus. It's similar if you go to the airport. You may not look like a person of interest. You may dress nice. Yeah, you may be kind to your family. You may look really good. None of that matters if you don't have a valid boarding pass. All that matters is the valid boarding pass. All that matters when you leave this life is that you've repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ for your salvation. And so today I wanna talk to you about four truths about the gospel that we frequently forget. If you're a believer,

there's probably one of these four that you'll identify with more than the others. And again, like when I preach, you don't need to remember all four points. What you need to hear is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about maybe where you've had some spiritual amnesia so that you can live out in full with great joy the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to do that today and address these four truths that we frequently forget, we're gonna be in the book of Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, we're gonna make our way through that chapter this morning. And let me start just by reading the first eight verses or so just to set this up for what's going on. Now you remember, this comes out of where Peter was going because God was preparing Peter. It ended in Acts 9.43 where it says this, and Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon. Now last week, we spent a ton of time on that. I said, nobody probably has a plaque anywhere in the world. I've never seen one. As a result of saying that in a sermon, I now have two in my office. So thank you very much for that. But what we saw is, what we saw is, is that Peter was getting prepared and for what's about ready to happen, and here's what happens. He says this,

now there was a man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw a vision, an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, Cornelius, and fixing his gaze on him and being much alarmed, he said, what is it, Lord? And he said to him, your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God, now dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon who was also called Peter. He is staying with a tanner named Simon whose house is by the sea. When the angel who was speaking to him had left, he summoned two of his servants and a devout soldier of those who were of his personal attendance, and after he had explained everything to them, he sent them to Joppa. So what we see in this story is there's a centurion who is up in Caesarea who is named Cornelius, and he was a devout man, he was a good man. Here's what we know about him. He was devout, he was generous, he was prayerful, and he was respected by the entire Jewish community. If you met him, you would have said this, he's a good guy. Another reason you know he's a good guy, he's part of the Italian cohort,

which means he's been sent from Rome, he's a Roman soldier. The further away you were sent, the more trustworthy you were because they needed you to be trustworthy in foreign soil. So he's very loyal to Rome, he's trusted by Rome, he's devout, he's praying regularly, he is learning the Jewish traditions, and he's trying to give money to the Jews to help out where they need help. So if you saw this guy, you would say this, he's a good guy, he's philanthropic, he's kind, he's loved by everybody around him, he's really good at his job, he cares for the people under his charge, and this is where we get a truth frequently wrong, and the first one is this, good people still need the gospel. Good people still need the gospel. We forget this, we think sometimes, once we're around good people, they probably know. They go to church, their church preaches the gospel. They're actually in a small group at their church. I heard they give money to the capital campaign in the church, you know what? At work, they seem like they're nice. When we open our Bible, that person says, that's a really cool thing that you open your Bible. They must be a Christian. None of those things make you a Christian. You can be a good person and bust hell wide open if you've never repented of your sins

and trusted Jesus Christ. Good people need the gospel, why? Because the Bible says there is no one good. No, not one, there is none righteous, there is none who seeks after God. When you were born, you weren't born saying, Jesus, what do I need to do? Hey, Jesus, thanks for being my Lord. Jesus, thanks for making it about you. No, from the time we were born and breathe our first, it's about us, what we get, when we get it, how we get it, how it's delivered to us, all those different things, that's what it's all about. And so what we see here is Cornelius is a good guy, but he is still outside of saving faith with Christ. So see what happens in this story. He's a devout man, he feared God. He prayed to God continually. I mean, the guy's a prayer. Certainly he's a Christian, no, he's not. Says about the ninth hour of the day, that's three in the afternoon, he saw a vision of an angel of God who had just come to him and said his name. He said, Cornelius, and fixing his gaze on him, much alarmed, he said, what is it, Lord? Now, Lord isn't Lord Jesus, Lord is the word, sir. It's the same thing that Saul said on the road to Damascus. Who are you, Lord? He's not saying, who are you, Lord Jesus Christ?

He's like, who are you, sir? Like, I don't know who you are. That's exactly what Cornelius was saying. Who are you, sir? He was much afraid. Every time an angel shows up in the Bible, people are much afraid. The angel shows up, he says, your prayers and alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now, here's what I need you to do. Dispatch some men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon, who's also called Peter, and he tells him where he's staying. He's staying with a tanner named Simon whose house is by the sea. And as soon as the angel leaves, he summons two servants and one of his soldiers and explains everything to them and sends them to Joppa. Why? Because when God saw his heart and God saw that he wanted him and he saw in creation there's gotta be a God and he saw in his conscience there's gotta be a God, so I'm just gonna do these things. I'm gonna pray to God. God's gonna send him the gospel. And the gospel always comes through people. Comes through people. The reason we tell people, share the gospel, is because that's how the gospel is declared.

It's through people. It's not God. God does all the saving work. God is the one who rescues people, but God chooses to use human beings to proclaim the gospel. And many times, we see somebody that's far away from God, like, they definitely need the gospel. But we see somebody that we would deem a good person and we're like, who am I to tell them? is if I tell them that they need Christ, they're gonna think that I'm better than them, and honestly, they're probably better than me. You missed the point of the gospel. The gospel is not about making bad people better, it's about making dead people alive. Lost people found. You need Jesus Christ in your life, every single person, because at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. In heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Everybody, even the most hardened atheists that die will get on their knees and say that Jesus Christ is Lord. I mean, you picture everybody you see on TV or social media one day, every one of those people will bow their knee and say Jesus Christ is Lord. Every single one, whether they think they want to or not. But sincerity may move God to act, but salvation only comes through Jesus Christ.

And so what you see here is nothing different than we saw in Jesus's earthly ministry. There were a few people that Jesus met, there were quote, good people. You remember Nicodemus that was the leader of the Pharisees in John chapter three, that came to Jesus at night and said, good teacher, what must I do to be saved? Like, what do I have to do? And he's like, you are the teacher of Israel. Like, you're the most spiritual person in this entire group of people and you don't get it. Like, you must be born again. Like, you're dead and you need to be made alive. It's not about the works that you do. It's not about the religious rituals you have. You must be born again by the spirit of God. Nicodemus was a good guy, but Nicodemus wasn't in Christ and needed to be born again. Or what about the story of the rich young ruler that comes to Jesus and says the same thing. Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And he says, well, what are the commandments? And he starts listing them and the guy falsely says, well, I've done all these since I was a kid. I'm really religious. And Jesus said, well, one thing you lack, go sell everything you have and give to the poor and then come follow me and your treasure in heaven will be great. And when Jesus looked at him and loved him

and said that, the man's face just turned pale. He turned sad and he walked away. And as he's walking away amidst his astonished disciples, he said, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. I tell you the truth, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And later the disciples say, well, if this is impossible for him, like who can get saved? Like if this good religious guy that has money that's kind and nice and all these things, if he can't get in, who gets in? And Jesus says this with man, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Only God can save a soul. It doesn't matter how good you are or how bad you are. It matters what did you do with Jesus Christ while you were on this earth, amen? Good people still need the gospel, right? It's kind of like if you go to a hospital and you're polite and you're kind, it doesn't mean that you're not sick. Your attitude and how you behave doesn't change your condition. And it's interesting for me, because I've done, I don't know how many funerals I've done, but it's amazing to me that when people die, everybody thinks they're a good person. I mean, people get really good when they die.

Even the worst people are, oh, he's a pretty good guy. Everybody talks that way when someone dies. Now, here's what you need to realize. How many have been to a funeral before? Majority of the funerals you've gone to, that person is no longer there, right? You know that. They're either in heaven and hell, heaven or hell, because at the moment that you die, that's where you go. Majority of the people, the funerals that you've gone to are in hell. Majority, how do you know? Well, because Jesus said, small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and few are on that. But wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to death, and many are on that. Most people are going to hell. But you don't hear that in a funeral. What you hear is, there's good guys, this, he's this, he's this. He's not there, he's in hell. She's not there, she's in hell. Why, because you only have till you die until you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory, either to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, enter your rest and be presented faultless before the Father or depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I never knew you, get away.

That's it. And it happens that fast. And if there were YouTube videos on it, if we could see it spiritually, it'd freak you out. You'd repent right there as you're standing there. But I'm telling you, based on the authority of God's word, it happens every day to hundreds of thousands of people. Very few meet Jesus and it's a good experience. Comparatively more meet Jesus and it's a bad experience. And here's why good people still need to hear the gospel, because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isaiah 64, verse six says, our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment. And Titus three tells us that we're not saved on the basis of deeds, but according to his mercy. Friends, every one of us needs the gospel. Then you might say, I know that, I know that. But don't forget this truth we forget. We tend to think most of the people we hang out with are good people, even if they don't know Christ. And so who am I to tell them about Christ? They can be the best person, but if they're not in Christ. they're apart from Christ, tell them about Christ, amen? Good people still need the gospel. Let me tell you a second truth that we frequently avoid or forget is that holiness is not maintained through avoidance. Holiness is not maintained through avoidance. Notice what happens.

He sends the personal attendants with a soldier off to Joppa and verse nine says, on the next day, as they were on their way approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray, so that's noon. But when he became hungry and was desiring to eat, and he became hungry and was desiring to eat, but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance and notice what he saw. He saw the sky opened up and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground. And there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, get up, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means Lord, for I've never eaten anything unholy and unclean. Again, the voice came to him a second time, what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy. This happened three times and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. So check this out. So Cornelius sends the two personal attendants and the soldier down to Joppa to go to the house of Simon the Tanner to get Peter, because that's what the angel told him, this is what you need. He'll tell you everything you need to know. So he's like, well, that's what I'm being told, I'm gonna do that, sends them away.

When they get there, when they're arriving, it's about noon the next day, Peter's hungry, he's ready to eat, gets up on the roof of the house. They're still making preparations. He falls into a trance and sees a vision. The vision is lowering a sheet from four corners down and he sees all these four-footed animals in there. And it says, arise, Peter, kill and eat. That's what the voice says. And Peter's like, I know my old testament. I know what's clean. I know what's unclean. I'm not eating that, never. So it happened a second time. And then it happened a third time and that's it. And what you're gonna see is, Peter has no idea what this means. But I'm gonna tell you what it means because we're gonna read about what it means. God was giving him not a vision about food, but about people. God was giving him a vision about what God calls clean, don't you dare call unclean. What God deems okay, don't dare say that's not okay. Don't add or take away to what God says. I mean, here's what we see. When it comes to holiness, we do this all the time. Peter assumes holiness can be lost through the contact with the unclean. The greatest example that this is not true

is the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfectly holy from eternity past, born of a virgin, comes out perfectly holy, remained perfectly holy his whole life. And who did he spend time with every single day? Sinners and those who were unclean. But what happened when Jesus who was fully holy hung out with someone who was unclean? The one who was unclean became clean. The leper was healed. The one in the bleeding condition stopped bleeding. The one who was blind could see. The one who was dead was raised, why? Because Jesus is holy and holiness is not about avoidance. It's not about separation from. Holiness is about separation unto the one that loves you. Let me say it another way. Holiness is not about what you don't do. Holiness is about how much you pursue the Lord Jesus Christ. Holiness is not how far away are you from sin. Holiness is how close are you to the one who saved you. That's what drives holiness. And we miss this all the time in the church. Once people are saved, we do what the Jews did. We take the law and then we build fences around it. The Jews had the 10 commandments. We have the 10 commandments. The Jews and the Pharisees built 613 other laws around the law to make sure they didn't even get close

to breaking the law. But all of the 613, that's just oral tradition. That's just their ideas. That's just stuff. That's not how you stay holy. And God's gonna directly challenge Peter's assumption. That's why the Lord had him staying with Simon the tanner for a period of days in Joppa so that he was getting him ready. I mean, here's what you see. What God cleanses, we cannot call unholy. And how many of you know that some of us, after we become Christians, we get into circles where we're told, don't do this, don't do that, don't dress this way, dress this way, be this way, don't do this, don't do that. All pretty much good intended, but that doesn't change your heart. What's better to say is, press into Jesus, learn his word, and do what he tells you to do. And yet most of us spend all of our time telling people, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't do that, don't do that, you're a Christian now, don't do that, don't do that. And then we wonder why people are so bored with Christianity. It's because it has nothing to do with Christianity. Now there are laws in God's word, there are things God says, don't do, and if God says, don't do them, they're.

for your good, he's like, don't do this because I don't want you to hurt yourself. Don't do this because I don't want you to hurt other people around you, so don't. So if God makes it clear, don't, then don't. But I'm talking about the things that we make up. I read a story some 30 years ago from a book called Classic Christianity by an author named Bob George, and this illustration has stuck with me to this day. It's so powerful because he told the story like this. Imagine you own a five-star restaurant right here in Denver. It's a restaurant not only people in Denver know about, but everywhere in the state of Colorado they know. People drive to it all the time. It's a five-star restaurant. It's known for its quality food and great service. You're the owner of that restaurant, and one day you're in the back helping out in the kitchen, and you realize the trash needs to be taken out, and being the kind of person that you are, as people go to take it out, say, no, no, no, I got it. So you load up the trash bags on your shoulders, and you head out to the dumpster. And as you're getting ready to heave the first trash bag over to the dumpster, you hear this rustling sound, kind of scares you a little bit, and this person comes standing out of it in tattered clothes, smelly, awful, three years from today, and it's me. And you look at me, and you're like, Pastor Jeff?

What happened to you? And I say to you, don't call the cops. I'm just hungry. I'm just nosing through the trash trying to find something to eat. I promise I won't cause any problems. And you're like, what are you doing? You can't live like this. You can't eat like this. I'm not calling the cops, but why don't you come into my restaurant and eat? And I look at you and say, come into your restaurant and eat? I mean, look at me. I'll drive away everybody if I come into your restaurant. I smell bad, I look bad. You say to me, I don't care. I've always appreciated and loved you. Come into my restaurant. And if it makes you feel any better, in the back we have a shower. We're about the same size. You can wear some of my clothes if that makes you feel more comfortable, but just come in. And so you persuade me to enter the restaurant, and I get cleaned up, and I put on some new clothes. And then you walk me from the back into the restaurant. And when I open up, the lights are huge, and I see this buffet style of just food like I've never seen before.

Not only is it buffet style, but it's some of the top quality food anywhere I've ever seen. I mean, salads and fruits and vegetables in one line, and all the meats and carved meats and everything on the other, and desserts over here. And I look at you and I say, I can't afford this. And you're like, Jeff, you're not paying. I'm paying. Would you just get over here? And you sit me at a table, and you say, by the way, you can come here anytime you want. Anytime you're hungry, you're always welcome here, and the bill's always on me. And you see these extra chairs? You can bring some other people, if they're in your condition, bring them back here with you, and they can eat here anytime they want to. Now, how ridiculous would it be if at that moment I looked you in the eye and said, you know, that's really kind of you, but would it be okay with you if every now and again I just kind of snuck out in the trash and got something to eat? And yet, isn't that what we do with the gospel? We tell people all the time, stay out of the trash, stay out of the trash, don't go near the trash, don't touch the trash, trash is stinky, trash. And yes, there are commands where God says,

don't go touch the trash, and where he gives commands is for our own good. But a majority of the gospel is, stay out of it so you can come enjoy the fullness of everything that God has. Holiness is not what you avoid. Holiness is who you're spending your time with. The more time you spend with Jesus, the holier you'll become in your practice. And yet we make up all these rules that are seemingly good rules. They seem to work really well for us right up until the place that Christianity just becomes a bunch of works for us. Friends, I'm here to tell you, soap doesn't avoid dirt, it removes it. Soap's not afraid of dirt. You don't tell soap, don't go near that dirty thing. That's what soap does. Grace is bigger than your sin. If you spend time with Jesus, he will change your life. Now, there's holiness movements, and if you study church history, you'll see them, and you'll see all the things that happen. And I've seen this, and I've read church polity books, and they'll have books that are written out with doctrines that are like this. Don't watch movies, don't play cards, don't drink alcohol, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

I mean, I'm talking a litany of things. And I believe that everybody that was writing those things were writing those things because they love Jesus so much, they didn't want people to be entangled and ensnared in the world, and so they kind of made this list of things that could possibly get you there, but it's like building the fence. God doesn't say you can't watch movies. God doesn't say you can't drink alcohol. God doesn't say you can't celebrate Halloween. God doesn't say you can't have a Christmas tree. Now, you may be convicted, I can't do any of those things, totally fine, but don't make somebody else. You see what I'm saying? We make all these rules, and some of you are mad that I said those four, but I could really make you mad. My point is, don't do anything that would cause you to stumble, and don't do anything that Jesus says, stop. And for some of you, it's like, don't do any of those four things, because you can't, in good. I'm just doing, then don't. But don't make it a rule for everybody. I don't have television in my house. I can't handle it.

I would watch it 13 hours a day. Doesn't mean you can't, but I know what the Lord has spoken to me about me. And for a long time I was like, why do I have to do that, right? Because I know that's a distraction for me. Do you understand what I'm saying? Like the more time you spend with Jesus, he'll show you what you need to do. He'll show you what's okay for you to do. And it's not like, oh, I can get away with this. And you can't, it's not that way at all. It's as I'm spending time with Jesus, the only thing I'm asking him is, is there anything I need to start doing differently? Anything I need to stop? I'll just honor you any way that I possibly can. I mean, that's what it looks like. And if Christians just pursued Jesus and listened to him and his word and preference that, you would grow in holiness. We don't need everybody telling us what not to do, right? That's why he says what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy. We read in 1 John 1,7, the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all of our sins. You see Jesus touching lepers, right? I mean, think about this. Some of us live with what I call like the white t-shirt fear.

Have you ever noticed that like when you wear white, chances are you're gonna spill on it? Like if you wear dark clothes, you're not gonna spill. You wear white, you get invited to a friend's house. Like what's for dinner? Spaghetti, of course, right? You know what I'm saying? And some of us live our Christian lives with the white shirt fear. Like everywhere we go, I can't stand, I can't stand, I can't be here, I can't be. That is not how God has you living. You have Christ in you. I'm pressing into Jesus. Wherever I go, I'm taking Jesus with me and I wanna honor him in every single possible way. If the word of God says don't, I'm not going to do it. If the word of God gives me liberty and it's honoring to God and I can participate in it, I'll do everything to the glory of God. If it's causing somebody else to stumble, I'm never doing it again for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ because I wanna do what Jesus wants me to do. If every Christian lived like that, here's what would happen. The church would be on fire. You'd be much more happy in your Christian life because it wouldn't just be a bunch of mandated rules by all these other people telling you what you need to do. It'd be the Lord Jesus Christ saying,

here's how I'm building you and why I'm doing that, amen? Holiness is not maintained through avoidance. It's not, well, I don't do that. I don't go near the trash. You can stand outside the restaurant right around the dumpster and brag about how you don't go to the trash and you've never done anything for Christ. Go enjoy Jesus to the full, amen? So good people still need the gospel. Holiness is not maintained through avoidance and then third is like it and this is really important. Tradition is not the same as truth. Tradition is just not the same as truth. Now, notice this, verse 17, I love this. Now, while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon's house, appeared at the gate and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, behold, three men are looking for you, but get up, go downstairs and accompany them without any misgivings for I have sent them myself. So Peter gets a vision from the Lord. A lot of us say, I'd love to get a vision from the Lord. Peter got a vision from the Lord, he saw it three times.

You know what it meant to him? Nothing. I don't even understand what this thing is. I don't understand the sheet, I don't understand, I don't understand, God's speaking to me clearly and I have no clue what it means. And it's right at that time that those three men show up and you can hear them saying, is this Peter's house? Is this where Peter is, the other one that's called Simon? And that's when he hears the Lord saying, these three are looking for you, go down without any misgivings, follow them whatever they tell you. So Peter's like, okay, that's clear to me. So he's gonna follow what the Lord says. So Peter went down to the men, verse 21, and said, behold, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for which you have come? I'm the guy, I don't know why you're here. God told me you were gonna come. God told me I needed to trust what you were gonna say. I have no idea what you're doing or what I'm supposed to be doing with you, but just tell me what it is. They said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well-spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to this house and hear a message from you.

So he invited them in and gave them lodging. So Peter's like, I don't know what I'm doing here. Here's what we're doing. We've been sent by Cornelius, he's a Roman soldier. All the Jews up there speak well of him in Caesarea. He sent for you because he had a vision from God. You need to come and explain to him everything you know. So he's like, all right, well, why don't you guys come in and let's just, let's spend the night, let's hang out and let's talk. So that's where the story continues. And on the next day, notice what he did. end of verse 23, he got up and went away with them and some of the brethren from Joppa accompanied him. So Peter told some of the brothers, you need to come with me and see this. On the following day, he entered Caesarea. Now Cornelius was waiting for them and he had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter raised him up saying, stand up. I too am just a man. So Peter, the next day gets up. Now Peter's been called by the Lord to go, but because Peter is following the Lord, you know what he does? He brings disciples along with him. Why? Because that's what he watched Jesus do.

Everywhere Jesus went. Did Jesus need any of the 12 during his earthly ministry? No, they didn't help him. They were a royal pain to him the entire time. All he did was ask him questions like this. You're not gonna leave too, are you? Are you still so dull? I mean, that's all Jesus spent his day doing. They didn't help him at all. He brought them along so that they could learn what he was doing. Peter gets called of God. He doesn't say, well, I'm Peter and I'm an apostle and I saw Jesus resurrected from the dead. Peter's going, so he's like, I'm gonna take some brothers with me so they can see. So he takes them there. And when he gets into the house of Cornelius, Cornelius is so excited that God's answered his prayer that Cornelius gets down and starts worshiping Peter. And what's the first thing Peter does? Get up. I too am a man just like you. Do not worship me, right? Now, while we may not receive worship from people that bow at our feet, just be very careful as a Christian when you're sharing the gospel that people think you're more special than what you actually are.

You lead someone to Christ and they say to you something like this, you saved my life. Here's your answer. I didn't save your anything. Jesus Christ saved everything. I'm just a messenger. You understand? Like don't, just be careful not to receive too much. And I'm not saying downplay it like, oh, it's not me, it's the Lord. I mean, I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about, I'm just a man like you. I'm just a human being like you. There's nothing different about me other than that Jesus Christ indwells me. I'm his, right? And that's what Peter does. He tells him, get up, I'm just a man too. And as he talked with him, verse 27, he entered and found many people assembled. Why, because Cornelius had called all his friends and family. And he said to them, notice what he's gonna say. You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him, and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. So what's Peter get now? I get division.

It wasn't about food, it was about people. And what God called clean, I should not call unclean. So it goes on to say, that is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me. Now, keep in mind, there's nothing in the scriptures that say it's unlawful for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile. There's nothing. But that was one of the 613 fences. Like Peter knew from the time he was, don't dare go to their house. Don't you dare cross into their house. Don't you go associate with those Gentiles. Don't you go in. Now Peter's taking Jewish brethren with him who are born again people, and he's entering the house, not only going to Cornelius' house, but he's coming in with a bunch of Gentiles. He's just broke every traditional teaching he's ever had from the time he was a little boy. And he tells Cornelius, now I know what God was showing me in that vision. He was telling me what he called clean, I'm not to call unclean anymore. I'm not to add or take away from the law. I'm not to do any of that. I'm to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, and the Lord wants me to be here with you. Friends, if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ,

I promise you, he will stretch your traditions beyond what you can handle. Even the good ones. And we all have them. If you've come to Christ to be brave, you believe, and falsely, that a worship service should have three or four worship songs with a band up front, possibly some prayer time, a preacher that preaches for only 50 minutes, and, sorry, I would love to go longer. And then we do small groups and stuff, and you say, that's the way we do it. That's how it's done. You don't have to do that. You could sing for an hour. You don't have to sing. You could sing with a full band, or you could sing a cappella. You can do different things. You can rise and sit during the service. There's no liturgy that God prescribes. He wants his word read. He wants his word preached. He wants prayers of his people. But there's different ways that we can do that. But we get in our traditions. This is what we do. We do a warrior summit. We have Christmas Eve services.

Here's what we do at Easter. Traditions start forming, but there's nothing sacred about the traditions. It's just something that we kinda do. Like, I remember, I got to be a youth director at a church outside Chicago. It was an evangelical covenant church, and it was about 100 people, and they had this deal they did every December 8th called St. Lucia Fest. The only reason I know that's because my birthday's December 8th, and I used to ask questions like, what are we doing? And nobody could give me a good answer, so I started doing research, and apparently there was a gal named Lucia that did some really good deeds a couple hundred years ago. and people were remembering her. But it evolved in this tradition in the church and on December 8th, they had a special service and one of the teen girls would wear candles lit on her head and come down, which always scared me because I'm like, she's gonna light her head on fire and all these different things. And I'm like, why are we doing that? Nobody knew why we did that. I was the one who was the outsider asking, why y'all do that? Well, we've always kinda done that.

You don't need to do St. Lucia Fest to go to heaven, just so you know. But there's all sorts of other traditions we think are really, really important. And they're not. If they're not biblical, they're not necessarily important. They're just traditions and they can be helpful in our growth, so you don't need to get rid of every tradition. Traditions can be good. Some of us have traditions with our family at Thanksgiving. Nothing wrong with a tradition. It's just not salvific. Amen? So he says, why have you sent for me? Verse 30, Cornelius says, four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour at three in the afternoon, and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments and he said, Cornelius, your prayer's been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Therefore, send a Joppa and invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you. He is staying at the house of Simon the Tanner by the sea. So I sent for you immediately and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord. I mean, what a great invitation. Here's what he's saying.

Hey, Peter, here's why you're here. We know you know Jesus. In response to my prayers, I saw a vision, I had a vision of an angel, came and told me to go get you. You're here, just tell me everything you know about Jesus. We're all ears. You talk about a great setup for the gospel, that's a great setup for the gospel. If somebody comes up to you and says, just tell me everything you know about Jesus, that's a great setup for the gospel. That's where he's at. But understand this, tradition is not the same as truth. Peter's gonna tell him truth. Peter hears the Lord and so he comes in with truth. Let me give you an example. Let me give you an example from my own life. This was back in my 20s, I think I was like, no, I was older than that, I was probably 30. It's been about 25 years ago. I was going to, I went to stay with a friend in Czech Republic and it was during a season where I was trying to figure out what the Lord had for me next and I was there with him and I don't speak any of that language. It's one of the hardest languages to learn. We spent a lot of time together. I met his whole ministry team but there was one day I was staying in his apartment and he said,

hey, I need to go for the day. You're welcome to stay here, you're welcome to run around, do whatever you wanna do and I said, cool, and he left. And I was there by myself all day. I was reading, I was doing different things. At about five o'clock that night, I heard a knock on the door. And I went and opened the door and it was the little girl from upstairs who was about five years old. I had met her, he had introduced me to their family and she didn't speak any English. I couldn't speak her language and all she did was this. She held her hands out and she goes, eat. Like, do you want to come eat? And I was like, okay. And so she was like this and so I followed her up the stairs to the second floor and entered her apartment. And so her mom and dad were there, she had a little brother that was a baby, she had some older siblings, they were all hanging around and they started making food. And they looked at me and they didn't know any English really and the mom said, egg, egg? Like, would you eat eggs? And I'm like, yeah, whatever you make, it's fine. So she started making eggs. And as I'm watching her make this egg, I'm like, not only did she make the egg, she was putting all these peppers in it and mixing ketchup in it and all sorts of other spices.

And I remember how happy she was when she took it off the stove and set it before me. And when she did, the whole family came and sat around and they were all looking at me like, he's really gonna like this. So I knew that this was not a food tasting that I needed to be like the Food Network, like, yeah, I'm not gonna eat this. It was hospitality that I was either gonna reject or accept. And as I'm wondering about, can I get a glass of water just so I can choke this down? They put a glass in front of me and I was saying, oh, praise the Lord. And they went to the cabinet and got a warm bottle of beer that had already been opened and poured half of it in for me and then for their one year old, put about that much in like a sippy cup. And all these things were going on. Like, I'm gonna drink a beer. I'm like representing my friend that's a Christian missionary and I gotta eat this awful egg and now there's this warm beer sitting there and what do I do? And I prayed to the Lord that I would be able to swallow it without vomiting and ate the egg and washed it down with that beer and it was the worst meal to this day I still remember ever having with a huge smile on my face and they were so excited to serve me. And I knew I'd done the right thing. When I came back home, it was about six months later,

I was applying to get ordained in a certain organization with some men that I really respected and one of their policies was you can't drink alcohol and I was fine with that, but I wanted to tell. just to see what they thought. And so I told them that story, and I said, you know, I can handle the not drinking alcohol, but what would you have done in this situation? And they said, yeah, you did wrong. You should have told them I'm a Christian, and I don't drink. I said, I couldn't speak their language. I said, the only thing that I would have communicated is, I reject your hospitality. I'm better than you. And they said, well, if you think that, we're not gonna ordain you. You need to really pray about that brother and all this stuff. And I'm like, you don't need to pray for me. You already gave me your answer. I don't wanna be a part of your organization. And it's not because you don't drink, it's okay. But don't make it legalistic, right? And that's the point of the story. God stretches us in different ways where we find ourselves in situations where God's saying, it's okay for you to be here. It's okay for you to associate,

because I'm with you. Because if all we do is avoid people and have all of our traditions where this is who we are, and all those people out there are bad, and we lob rocks, we'll never get the gospel out there. I find that as I'm growing in Christ, there's never been a time in my life where God stopped stretching me. He's always stretching me. He's still stretching me. He makes me uncomfortable all the time to put me in situations where I would never have chosen to be before, all for one purpose, so I can show him glory by loving other people I would never have loved before, amen? Tradition is not the same as truth, right? Then let me give you a final one. And this is really where all this comes full circle. Urgency, the urgency of the gospel is confirmed by the Holy Spirit's power. Urgency is always confirmed by the Holy Spirit's power. So notice what Peter's gonna do in verse 34. Opening his mouth, he's gonna speak. And Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality. God doesn't show favoritism. God doesn't pick this person and not pick this person.

The love of God is for all. Jesus died for all. He doesn't show partiality. I picked you, your favorite. I didn't pick, nowhere in the Bible do you read that. But in every nation, the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. So notice how Peter starts. He starts talking about Jesus Christ. Well, who is he? Well, he's the Lord of all. So you need to know that from the get-go. You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. We are all witnesses of all the things he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him on the third day and granted that he become visible not to all people but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. That is to us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

And he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of him, all the prophets bear witness through his name. Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. Now, certainly he talked a lot more. I mean, Peter was one, everywhere you see him, he's always opening his mouth, he's always speaking. No way he was that succinct, right? But this is what Luke records of the summarization of everything that Peter would have been saying. And what does he start with? Jesus Christ is Lord. And as you know, he was born of a virgin. And as you know, he lived in Nazareth. And as you know, he did his ministry throughout Galilee. And as you know, he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And as you know, John the baptizer baptized him. And as you know, he did everything that we saw him do. By the way, we were eyewitnesses of all the things. So let me tell you some of the things he did. He restored sight to the blind, cured leprosy, dead people, lame people walked, dead people were raised. We saw it all. Let me give you story after story after story. That's who he is, but that's not the biggest part of the story. This one, Jesus, who's the perfect one,

went to a cross, laid out his arms and stretched them out, were nailed to a cross, his feet were nailed to the cross. He died in our place for all our sin. God poured all his wrath on his son, just as was prophesied. And every Old Testament prophecy fulfilled that Jesus is the Christ, as we talked about at Christmas on Wednesday. So here's what he's saying. He's now risen from the dead. And by the way, after he rose, he appeared to many of us that were gonna go out and preach in his name. I'm one that saw him. I saw him after he rose from the dead. I saw his nails in his hands. I had a meal with him. We ate together. He's as alive as he's ever been. I watched him go into heaven and guess what? He's coming back soon. Let me tell you, that's the gospel. Now, here's what I love about Peter. He's not trying to come up with clever stories. He's not saying, you know, I don't know if you're gonna agree with this or not. He just said, you asked me about Jesus, let me tell you about Jesus. Here's who he is. He's everything the Bible proclaims him to be. And I'll give you the full truth of who he is

so that you can respond accordingly. He doesn't hold back. There's this urgency to Peter. God says, go share, what's he gonna do? He's gonna go share, why? Because time is so short. Your time is short. My time is short. Even if you live to be 104 years old like my grandmother did. Like I'm middle-aged right now, I'm halfway there. So it's short. You don't get that much time. But eternity is long. Eternity is forever. And every soul is going one place or another. So Peter opens his mouth and he preaches. His message is Christ-centered. And notice what happens when he preaches. Verse 44, this is the amazing part. We've seen the Ethiopian unit come to Christ. We know he's going back to Africa, but this is the first time that God has prepared the Gentiles to receive the full measure of grace where we're gonna see the Holy Spirit dispensed in this way. It says, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit

had been poured out on the Gentiles also. How do you know? Verse 46, for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. So why is that a big deal? Because when Peter preached the first sermon in Acts chapter two, what happened? People began, all the apostles began to speak in other languages. The Spirit of God fell on them. They were all praising God in other languages and everybody's like, this is the Holy Spirit, he's come. We're taking the gospel out. Now what's happening with the Gentiles, the ones that the Jews thought were untouchable, the ones that Jews thought were less than, now they're getting the same Holy Spirit falling on them. Like this is such a big deal that Luke has to write chapter 11 because he knows that the Jews back in Jerusalem are gonna be like, no way, no way that happened. And by the way, the reason Acts 11 has to happen too is because now they're gonna wanna make all those Gentile believers Jewish. We gotta get them all the Jewish traditions, they gotta be like us. We do the same thing when somebody comes to Christ. This is where you need to go to church, this is how you need to dress, this is what you, you don't, you need to get them in Christ.

So the Holy Spirit falls on them and they're amazed because all the Jews that came with Peter, like dude, we can't believe that this is what's going on. And so Peter says this, he answered, he says, surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he? And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days. So the Holy Spirit comes, the Holy Spirit falls on them. They get baptized by water because it's the first thing you do is an act of obedience. Once you've been born again, you get baptized with water. If you're born again and you haven't been baptized with water since you come to Christ, your next step of obedience is to get baptized in water. That's exactly what happens everywhere in the book of Acts. So that happens and then they said, hey man, can you stay with us a couple of days? This is awesome. We wanna hear more about this. We wanna learn more about this. Now let me show you something that's not as explicit in the text, but it's all over the text. I want you to understand, unity in Christ does not mean sameness. Unity in Christ does not mean sameness. When the Gentiles come to Christ, guess what? They're still Gentiles who are in Christ.

When Jews come to Christ, guess what they are? They're Jews who are in Christ. I mean, a lot of people use scriptures out of context where they'll use Galatians where they say, there's no men or women, slave or free, Jew or Greek for all one in Christ Jesus. And they say what that means is, we're all the same. No you're not. If you were a woman before you got saved, you're a woman after you got saved. And if you're a man before you got saved, you're a man after you got saved. And if you're Jewish before you got saved, you're Jewish after you got saved. And if you're a Gentile before you got saved, you're a Gentile after you got saved. There's still distinctions. Men are still called to be different than women and women are still called to be different than men. I mean there's still distinctions. And what we tend to want to do in the church is make everybody uniform and you unithink and you don't have to. I mean once you've come to Christ, you're in Christ to the fullness that Christ wants you to be in him. So live for him. Because what you're gonna see in chapter 11, they're gonna try to make all these laws, these Jewish laws for these people to make

and they're gonna go back and they're gonna rule on this and say no they don't have to do all that. They just gotta serve Jesus. They just gotta honor him. And I want you to see that because there's a push and a pull in our evangelical culture to make every single one of us the same. We all need to dress the same. We all need to like the same music. Do you know there's some Christian music I just don't like and you can't make me like? But it's not because it's not Christian. I just don't like it. Doesn't do anything for, it's okay. There's other Christian music you may not like. There's some secular music I like that you don't like. It's okay. Do you understand what I'm saying? We don't have to be like everybody else and distinctions don't go away. Nations don't go away. Israel doesn't go away. You'll see that when I teach on it. I mean you're in Christ but you're in Christ as to who you are. Does that make sense? So quit trying to make everybody else just like you. You don't wanna be. just like me. You wanna be just like Christ,

with how he made you, with your gifting and your ability and the things that he's placed in your heart so you can have the fullness of him. One of the reasons people get sick of Christianity and get sick of the church is not because the church is wrong or Christianity is wrong, it's because they get this feeling like I gotta be like everybody else. I gotta act just like Tim or Joe or Tom or Jeff. I don't wanna act like that. You don't have to, just act like Jesus. Be the fullness of who you are and act like Jesus. Be who he made you and act like Jesus. He gave you your personality, it's not gonna change after you get saved. It'll get honed, it'll get more mature in the Lord, but if you're extroverted and bold like Peter was before he got saved, you're gonna be extroverted and bold after you get saved. If you're quiet and gentle like John before you get saved, you're probably gonna be quiet and gentle after you get saved. It's okay, just be who God made you. That's the freedom that you have, amen? And that freedom gives you the urgency that when you're talking to somebody, because I know this is true for men, I don't know how well this plays for women, but for men, a lot of guys I talk to

that don't wanna become Christians, it's not because of Christ, it's because of the guys they know that are Christian. They're like, dude, I don't wanna be like them. To which I say, I know them too and I don't wanna be like them either. You don't have to be. You have to be like Christ. You have to be like Christ. And that's the freedom that you have. You have a freedom to grow in Christ just the way he wants, amen? That's why when we hear this urgency, we hear the apostle Paul say, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God into salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek. Or 1 Thessalonians 1.5, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. The gospel's powerful. Gospel made you unique. That's why there's one body and many parts. You can't be what you weren't made to be and you don't have to be anybody else than what God made you to be. He just loves you so much. He wants to save you and use your life with just who you are

to bring him the greatest glory that you can. Don't get frustrated trying to become somebody that you're not. You can't. I can't become somebody else. I remember being younger, I hear people preach. I'm like, I wanna preach like that. I wanna do that. I wanna, can't. I can only preach like me. You can only be you. You can only do school like you. You can only do business like you. You can only be a mom like you. You can only be a dad like you. You can only be a father like you and a mother like you. So be who God made you to be and trust you for the glory of Christ that you can be and then share the gospel with urgency. We were ending the day on all our campuses by taking communion to remind us that it is the body and blood of Christ. You picked up elements on the way in which are representative samples of the body and blood of Christ to remind us of all that Christ did on your behalf. Once you hear this song sung over you and then I'll come up here and we'll take this as a family

on each of our campuses together. Let me pray for you. Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor and praise. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that good people still need the gospel. We thank you for the reminder that holiness is not avoidance, it's drawing closer to you. Lord, we thank you for the reminder that tradition is not the same as truth. Let us live in truth. And we thank you for the reminder this morning that urgency of the gospel is always confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you made us unique in the way you made us unique to become everything you want us to be. Lord, as we celebrate this meal, remind us today of all of our sin, past, present, and future being washed away, not by anything we've ever done, but because of our repentance and belief in the cross of Jesus Christ in him alone. We give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. And it's in Jesus' name we pray and all God's people said, amen.